15th Century Paintings (TASCHEN Icons Series) [Paperback]

TASCHEN (Creator), Rose-Marie Hagen (Author), Rainer Hagen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2001 | Series: Icons

This pocket book presents the most important works from the greatest masters of 15th century painting, including: Boticelli, Mantegna, van Eyck, Bosch, and di Cosimo.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Taschen; First Edition edition (May 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822855510
• ISBN-13: 978-3822855515
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,609,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From The Inside Flap:, October 31, 2005

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Barney book finder "Barneys Books and Rubble" (Great Lakes) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 15th Century Paintings (TASCHEN Icons Series) (Paperback)

What is Christ doing beside Lake Geneva? How did the Florentine banker Tommaso Portinari find his way into an altarpiece by the Flemish artist Hugo van der Goes? Who is the beautiful young woman lying dead on the sand and why are there dogs around her? What was Botticelli really trying to say with his celebration of the birth of Venus? The maqority of paintings from the 15th century portray figures from the Bible and the world of mythology, but they also tell us much about the era in which they arose - about the conflicts between ruling forces, about the hope of the poor, about everyday life, and about the meaning and symbolism which were attached to the past.

The masterpieces selected for this volume are intended not to teach art history, but to focus out attention in each case on a specific image. The authors discuss what we are seeing and provide background information which makes the pictures more accessible. They see each painting not just as a work of art, but as a document of its day. The articles were originally published under the title "What Great Paintings Say" in the magazine ART.